Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesJohn Calipari coached an NIT team in March. Now he's the coach of preseason No. 1.

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The rankings that do not really matter are out (via USA Today). Nothing against the coaches and their preseason poll, but let's just keep this in mind before overreacting to a poll in October: The coaches have correctly picked three out of the last 15 national champions.

Last year was a down year for freshmen. This year's class is motivating NBA teams to tank before the games even begin. If the preseason hype is any indication of how this season will go, freshmen are going to have a big say in what happens in March.

Loser: Louisville

Preseason No. 3 is nothing to get down about, but when you win the national championship, return three starters including your leading scorer, and have a Hall of Fame coach, usually that gets you preseason No. 1.

This wouldn't be such a big deal for the Cardinals—they can flash their rings when they feel disrespected—but it does have to stick in their craw that their rivals, a team that missed the NCAA tournament, are No. 1.

Winner: Mid-Majors

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY SportsWichita State returns leading scorer Cleanthony Early off its Final Four team, and that helped earn the Shockers the No. 16 spot in the coaches poll.

The time has passed when mid-majors are ignored in these polls.

It's hard to actually define who is a mid-major and who is not—especially because of all the conference realignment—but by my count, the mid-majors landed four in the coaches poll: Gonzaga (14), VCU (15), Wichita State (16) and New Mexico (20).

This marks the third straight year at least four mid-majors made the preseason Top 25. And if you want to count the newly formed American Athletic Conference or the new Big East (I don't), you could add four more.

Loser: The SEC and Big 12

Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY SportsBilly Donovan's Florida Gators are one of only two SEC teams in the Top 25.

Out of the power conferences, apparently the coaches think less of the SEC and Big 12 than the others, putting only two teams apiece in the Top 25.

Sure, those two teams in each conference (Kentucky and Florida for the SEC and Kansas and Oklahoma State for the Big 12) are respected, but even the American Athletic Conference got three teams in the Top 25.

Arguments could be made for Baylor, Iowa State and Tennessee to be in, and the good news is this poll means absolutely nothing. Still, you could say it means something for bragging rights, and it's hard for the casual fan to buy a coach saying "Our league is going to be really good" when the polls say otherwise.

Winner: ACC and Big Ten

Get ready to hear a lot of arguments about which league is the best in the country this year and for years to come.

Both the ACC and Big Ten can make the claim with five teams each in the Top 25.

No other league put more than three teams in the poll. And neither league has to compete with the Big East for that title any longer. The new Big East is a shell of itself. And the ACC is already benefiting, with two former Big East members that are now in its league (Syracuse and Notre Dame) appearing in the poll.

Loser: The New Big East

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY SportsMarquette coach Buzz Williams is all by himself representing the new Big East in the Top 25.

The new Big East did its best to put together a decent league after the old Big East blew up, but it might be tough to convince anyone to pay much attention this first year. Marquette, at No. 17, is the lone representative in the Top 25.

On the bright side, Creighton, Georgetown and Villanova appeared in the "Others Receiving Votes."

Yeahhhhhhhh...not seeing much of a bright side.

Admit it, lovers of what used to be the Big East, conference realignment sucks and you guys have reason to be angry. If you want to burn this poll, by all means do it. You can send the ashes with a strongly worded letter to the ACC and Big Ten.

Loser: Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford convinced a sure-thing top-five pick to come back to school, he returns four starters (including two others who considered the NBA), and he's still looking up at Kansas in the polls. And those darn Jayhawks lost all five starters!

Ford had this to say about Andrew Wiggins at his team's media day on Monday, via The Oklahoman:

Wiggins is, from what I understand, the best player to ever play. I've seen him play and he's really good. They're still the No. 1 team and should be. They've got tons of talent, they've got depth, they've got the best player to ever play at Kansas and that's a pretty good deal.

He was just having some fun there at the hype for Mr. Wiggins. But you do get the sense the Cowboys were ready to soak in the spotlight when Smart returned, only to get overshadowed, as usual for all Big 12 schools, by Kansas.

Winner: Tom Crean

Trevor Ruszkowksi-USA TODAY SporAfter losing four starters, Indiana still finds itself in the Top 25.

The last two seasons have been a great ride for Indiana coach Tom Crean. He built the proud program back up and even had enough talent last year to be preseason No. 1.

The fact that the Hoosiers are still in the Top 25 after losing four starters, including stars Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo, is a sign that Crean's peers think what he's built is sustainable. It's also a compliment to his perceived coaching ability that a team so unproven with so many question marks is in the Top 25.

Loser: New Coaches

USA TODAY SportsUSC made a big splash this offseason, getting NCAA darling Andy Enfield from Florida Gulf Coast, but that didn't earn the Trojans any Top 25 votes.

Dear Athletic Directors,

Looking for a reason not to can your coach? Well, stability apparently helps in building a respected and winning team. Only two new coaches—Steve Alford at UCLA and Craig Neal at New Mexico—saw their new teams appear in the Top 25, and no teams coached by new coaches appeared in the "Others Receiving Votes."

It's not all that surprising considering most programs with a new coach are typically rebuilding, but it is good news for the mid-majors. It's easier for them to hold onto their coaches these days (see Gonzaga, Wichita State and VCU), and as a result, those programs are consistently showing up in these polls.

Winner: New Mexico

Jeff Bottari/Getty ImagesNew Mexico looks like a complete team this season.

It was a rough offseason for the Lobos. They started it off by giving Steve Alford an extension, only to see Alford break that deal a week later to go to UCLA. And then Alford didn't feel the need to pay all of his buyout.

Well, the Lobos can stick their tongues out at Alford and his Bruins, who are looking up three spots at the Lobos in this poll. New Mexico returns four starters and definitely has the better team on paper.

Loser: The Atlantic 10

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY SportsSaint Louis went from No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament to unranked in the preseason.

Last year was a good year for the Atlantic 10. It welcomed VCU and Butler. The league sent five teams to the NCAA tournament, all five made it out of the Round of 64, and La Salle made a surprise Sweet 16 run.

Now Butler and Xavier are in the Big East, Temple is in the AAC and only one A-10 team (VCU) made the Top 25.

The league probably deserves more respect than the coaches poll gave it—defending league champ Saint Louis is a fringe Top 25 team—but the league's stock is definitely falling a year after it was at an all-time high.

Winner: Kentucky

Joshua Lindsey-USA TODAY SportsKentucky's Alex Poythress has seen the talent around him improve this preseason.

Get in all of the Robert Morris NIT jokes now while you can. Kentucky is back. And John Calipari has all of his swagger back, justified in a way by the coaches poll.

Calipari wants to go 40-0. He made a ridiculous prediction on Wednesday that Kentucky would have seven players score 25 or more points at least once this year, according to Jason King of ESPN.

Of course, it sounds kind of crazy to pick a team that missed the NCAA tournament last year as preseason No. 1. That's a first. And it's just another reminder that you'd better get every punch in on Calipari while you can when he's down, because he can flip that quicker than anyone in the sport.